Share this:

§ Yesterday’s Journalista reprinted an angry letter from Carmine Infantino. That sounds pretty damned scary to us. Mr. Infantino is angry over non-payments for (presumably) usage of his character Black Canary, and some harsh comments about his business acumen in a recent book about DC.

Concerning the lack of payment for my creation “The Black Canary”: it may be your legal right but have you no concern for the moral issue?

I am also extremely dismayed by the allegation in The DC Vault, which was approved by someone in DC management, that I was “not a businessman”. May I point out that in 1973, DC, under my leadership, won most of the biggest awards in comics fandom. The statements made about the physical packaging of the comic book — re: reprints versus new material—is also inaccurate. I don’t understand why your people condoned such an error-ridden point of view regarding my tenure in DC management.

§ Two craft entries as Josiah Leighton delves into a Jeff Smith action sequence and a four-page spread by Pat McEown (above). What ever happened to Pat, anyway? He had all the tools; he was gonna be The One. Both links via Sean T. Collins.

I’ve mentioned Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock a few times before, where he touts the idea that society is advancing so quickly that some people can’t keep up and experience a sort of culture shock when they suddenly wake up one morning and see that the world has changed around them. I think he was spot-on with the concept, and I think we’re going to see more and more people wig out in 2009 because they just realized they’ve fallen down the rabbit hole.

That’s why so many people have gone into a panic about Diamond changing their policies. Their world has been changing around them, but they only now were forced to see that, thanks to Diamond. “Heeeey… this isn’t how the comic book industry was run back when I started in it.”

§ Screenwriter/comics scribe Brian Lynch reveals some amusing anecdotes about working in comics on his blog. Two representative paragraphs:

San Diego Comic Con. I was invited out by an editor to talk about possibly doing work for them. Told me to meet him around 3 PM. 3 PM in July, even in somewhat windy San Diego, is very hot.

This guy shows up kinda drunk. At 3 PM. Also, I guess because he works in an artistic field, he’s wearing a black turtleneck and either a black kango hat or beret. I can’t be sure which, as he was so sweaty, in 90 degree heat, wearing a black turtleneck and black hat, drunk, that it was hard to look at him.

and

I talk to the editor, and he says after reading my work (they had not just comic stuff, but the Muppet screenplay that I had sold to Henson) they had the PERFECT project for me.

It was lesbian detective series. The word “lesploitation” was used. A lot. “You know, they work hard, they play hard, making out with girls, solving crimes revolving around girls, etc.”

You’re both jock and geek. Aren’t they supposed to be mortal enemies?
It’s true. I’d been making movies since I was about 11. It was very Rushmore-ian. I needed the parts to be played by all sorts of characters, so I needed jocks and geeks alike. It was good that I had both in my camp. My senior year, I kind of quit sports after meeting this supercool bodybuilder named Jim Arden [who was a teacher at his school]. He had a big, gray beard and his hair in corn rows—I’d never come across anyone as eccentric. He had a gym in the basement of the school; I went and trained with him for about three years.

One, Mandrakk really should have appeared more in Final Crisis if DC is going to sell Final Crisis #1-7 as a Hardcover. As I’ve said in the past, I was not too irked by the idea of Superman Beyond basically being Final Crisis #4 and 8 (of a 9-issue series). But that was when I was hoping DC would have the Hardcover be Final Crisis #1-7 plus Superman Beyond #1-2. With the knowledge that the hardcover will NOT have Sueprman Beyond, that is pretty lame. It’s not a HUGE deal, and you can still follow the series without Superman Beyond, but Superman Beyond sure as hell helps.

Two, due to the fact that this is the issue where the story is wrapped up, there are some awkward moments where Morrison simply does that – wrap the story up. Some “and then this happened and then this happened” storytelling in a few of the spots. That, I am sure, will work well for the trade collection (hence the “for the good of the many” part) but it hurts this single issue. In addition, some stuff seems rushed for space (Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s death, for instance).